Page 117 of A Wolf After My Own Heart
Annette grinned a red grin, seized a startled Gulo by his coat lapels, and kissed him on the mouth. The resulting scream was shrill and satisfying. “For someone so fastidious,” she said, releasing him as she licked blood from her teeth, “it’s odd to me that you’re neck deep in a plot that will guarantee major messiness and a number of corpses.”
“Stables brought this on themselves,” Gulo insisted. “They’re greedy and destructive and they breed like they’re getting paid. They’ve endangered the entireplanet, don’t you understand? They’ve had years to get on top of climate change and what’ve they done? Had meetings. Took to the streets in protest, thenmoremeetings. And when an administration puts environmental protections in place, the next guy comes along and un-does them. They’re children smashing a toy, then crying after the damage is done, with no clue how to fix it.”
All this while he was frantically scrubbing his face with his hands, then rubbing his hands on his slacks, then seeing the bloody streaks on his pants and rubbing his face some more. He was generating amazing friction; if his hands were two sticks, he’d be on fire by now.
“Your thug lashed out because he didn’t like what we were saying, but Stables are children?” Annette asked as blood dripped down her jaw. “And speaking of smashing, what’d you do to Magnus’s plane?”
“Ridiculous bullshit!”
Am I evernotgoing to jump when he does that?
“That’swhere I’ve seen you,” Magnus continued, turning to glare. “Logan Airport.”
Mock grinned. “Was wondering when you’d put it together.”
Berne growled. “This…” (The pause was hilarious.) “…person used to be on the ground crew in Boston. Which is where I’d berthed my plane for a bit.”
“Until Sue Smalls called to ask a favor,” Oz guessed.
“Aye.”
“Because somehow, she’d gotten wind of Team Genocide’s plan for a do-over the weekend of the tenth anniversary. Or she was in on it.”
Now Berne was glaring at Oz. “Of course she wasn’t in on it. Don’t be daft. We learned, even if they didn’t.” He pointed at the Turtleneck Gang, his contempt plain. “She wasn’t sure what was happening, just that she’d heard some things and wanted to check them out. She told me she also wanted to see her GP to get another referral for the Mayo. I didn’t think much of it at the time, to my everlasting regret.”
“But why wereyouthere?” Oz asked Mock.
“Keeping tabs,” Magnus said heavily.
“On Sue?”
“On both.”
Annette blinked. The bleeding had stopped, for which Oz was thankful, but she could have been gushing by the gallon and wouldn’t have noticed, not when she had that look, like she had hold of a rope but wasn’t sure where it would lead her. “I’m missing something,” she admitted. “I feel like it’s right in front of my face.” She wiped her jaw, then flicked her fingers in Gulo’s direction, who flinched back so hard he nearly fell down. How the hell did that guy do his job without having a nervous breakdown?
“You might as well talk about it, Magnus,” Oz said. “I assume it won’t be Murder O’Clock until Team Race War’s reinforcements show up.”
“Species war,” Turtleneck snapped. “Do we have to carve it into your forehead?”
“It’ll kill some time,” Oz finished. “So why not?”
Annette’s eyes widened in comprehension. “Magnus, what side were you on? At Shakopee?”
“You already know, lass, or you wouldn’t be askin’.”
He’d said,Can’t even think of it without being embarrassed.
He’d said,Sue and I’ve known each other since Shakopee. She c’n have anything she wants.
He’d said,You’re not at the top. We are. Shifters. Because we can change our shape. You, poor lass, are Stable. You’re locked into a bipedal form all your life.
And then he’d said,My condolences.
Annette sighed. “This is disappointing, Magnus.”
“Aye, lass. And you haven’t heard the worst of it.”
Chapter 48
